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The Sailmaker
Playwright - Alan Spence
Director - Micheal Emans
Designer - Michael Emans and Lynne McAndrew
Company - Rapture Theatre Company
Cast - here
Venue - Cottier Theatre
Dates - 26 - 30 November at 2pm
Run Time - 1 hours 30mins without an interval
Reviewer - Thelma Good
Difficult heart of a father and son relationship
Set around the time the Govan Yards started to decline Alan Spence's play
often gets to the difficult heart of a father and son relationship. Davie's
mother dies just as the play opens and his father who used to be a sailmaker
first tries to adjust to single parenthood working as a tick* man. Along
with his original trade of sailmaking the tick man has now also faded
into working class history.
What hasn't faded is some Scots' antagonism between green and blue, Roman
Catholic and Protestant and the teams bearing those colours who used to
reflect totally these divisions Celtic and Rangers. In the Sailmaker that
gastly scar across Scotland's character is also laid bare, and it brings
you up short that Davie's Uncle Billy a man full of digs at those who
might wear the green is still around in Scotland today. Those times were
different though with a piano in the flat but metered power and no bath
fairly standard.
Dad Alec's the man who might have got on if he hadn't had to leave school
early, he reads the classics. Davie's a bright lad, his cousin Ian is
not so good at the books but playing as 11 year old boys did in the early
'60s brings a painful reminder of how long children were able to be children
then. Both Spence and this production convey a lot of the feeling of loss
and change as well as engaging with some tricky issues - poverty, gambling,
drinking and well as bigotry.
Alec, Duncan Edwards and Davie, Rod Young are particularily
strong as the central father and son, their love for each other often
masked or unspoken. Rod Morrison hares about as Ian, Davie's much
more carefree cousin, but he and Alan Thornton's Billy never quite
bring off their characters' relationship with each other until they are
both working as painters at the same job.
Played straight on, the entrances and exits suffer from only being from
the back but having some changes facilitated by a visible washingline
in the untidy flat is an intellgent touch. Although of a time gone by
there are enough echoes, some uncomfortable with the here and now to make
this play an interesting reflection of times which maybe haven't changed
well enough. It's a pity the writing wasn't just a little stronger in
some scenes, but this production shows it's an important Scottish play
reflecting our nature in many ways deservedly here revived.
All of this cast also appear in Rapture Theatre's Richard
III at the same venue in the evening. Quite an achievement for any
organisation to do two interesting and largely accomplished full scale
productions, one with 20 actors and one with 4, both directed by the same
person, at the same time. Emans' stamina, (he also runs Rapture) and increasingly
fascinating direction thrills much more than some building based theatres'
directors have this year. He's directed more plays than those directors
this year alone too and with 31 plays inculding some Scottish premieres
of Mamets and others all with Rapture Theatre in just four years ( I just
counted them up) his experience is considerable.
Important footnote - Hurrah The Cottier has now, praised be, got
the heating arrangements sorted so it's comfortable to sit there for some
hours! Thank you. Do wear warm clothing though if you feel the cold easily.
© Thelma Good 27 November 2002. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
*The tick man collected the interest on small loans in households
before credit cards and monthly wages boomed the working (as opposed to
unemployed) class into the world of extended credit and bank overdaughts.
A sailmaker when ships became steam powered continued to make canvas
covers for the boat's lifeboats etc.
Cast:
Alec - Duncan Edwards
Davie - Rod Young
Ian - Rod Morrison
Billy - Alan Thornton
Other Rapture Theatre Productions reviewed by EdinburghGuide in
2002
Simpatico
Boy Gets
Girl,
Your
Turn to Sweep The Stair
The
Old Neighborhood
Richard
III which also has a note of the company 2003 programme
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